Professor Parenting, a.k.a. Brandi Stupica, blogs about the ways in which her knowledge of how to raise healthy, well-adjusted kids collides with actually trying to do it.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Flame Retardants: Why You Should Be Concerned

Flame retardants are chemicals, usually added to fabric or polyurethane
foam, that are meant to inhibit flames and prevent the spread
of fire. They’re nearly
impossible to avoid given that they’re in things like furniture foam,
carpet padding, insulation, and electronics. I was first introduced to the idea
that flame retardants were omnipresent and could be harmful when
I watched Toxic Hot
Seat on HBOwhile pregnant. I highly recommend you watch it. It’s life-changing.

So why exactly are flame retardants dangerous? They have
been linked to decreased IQ, attention
problems, and decreased fine motor control in children. They have also been
linked to infertility in women. The most alarming research has found that flame
retardants cause mutations to human DNA and tumors in lab rats. And,
in rats exposed prenatally, flame retardants cause obesity, early signs of
diabetes, early puberty, anxiety, and behavioral problems. You may have noticed
that I used a pretty strong word just then—CAUSE. That’s right, I’ve said that
these chemicals are known to CAUSE some pretty awful things. Them’s some pretty
strong words in the world of science. You best know it’s serious if I’m
droppin’ C-bombs.

I won’t go on and on here about flame retardants and how
they got into everything. Rather, I’ve provided some helpful links below to let
you start exploring on your own. My personal favorite is the Chicago Tribune’s
series on it. Rather, my purpose with this series of blog posts is to introduce
you to the idea that replicated and respected research indicates that these
chemicals are dangerous and tell you about some ways that I try to reduce my family’s
exposure.

There have been a few steps toward getting these dangerous
chemicals out of our homes, but the battles have been brutal and the progress
has been slow. As soon as researchers and activists get chemical companies to
stop making a particular flame retardant or get the government to take action
against ones that have been shown to be harmful, the chemical companies make
another one and claim that it’s safe (just like they did when they made the
first ones). Because progress is so slow, and new chemicals are manufactured
and distributed so fast, your best bet is to try to avoid and eliminate these
chemicals. Below are two easy and cheap ways to get you started.

Avoiding Flame
Retardants: Cleanliness

First, the cheapest and easiest way I found to reduce my
family’s exposure to flame retardants was to wash our hands with soap and water
frequently (at
least four times a day). The logic behind frequent hand washing is that the
flame retardants are on the dust that gets on our hands that we then put in our
mouths. Basically, we’re eating flame retardant dust so the cleaner we can keep
our hands, the less of it we eat.

Another easy and cheap way to reduce flame retardant
exposure is to vacuum regularly with a HEPA filter. This sucks, I know, because
no parent wants to find time in his or her day to vacuum. If you’re like me,
you’re barely able to keep enough dishes clean to eat your ice cream straight
from the carton. But, it’s a worthy inconvenience to consider adopting because
babies and kids (this applies to fur babies too) are thought to have more flame retardants in their systems due
to flame retardant-soaked dust falling on the floor where babies and kids play,
which gets into their blood when they indiscriminately put their hands and God-knows-what-else
in their mouths because they’re wild animals. Thus, I’ve started vacuuming more
with my Dyson that
has HEPA filtration (Dyson, feel free to send me products to review!) because, now
that Frankie is almost crawling, flame retardants freak me out more than ever.
They freak me out so much that my husband and I have a running joke in which he
asks me if I’ve thought about flame retardants yet that day. It’s not really a
joke, though, because I actually do think about flame retardants every day. In
fact, I started this blog, at least in part, to help increase awareness of
flame retardants. So, that’s why I vacuum way more than I used to and wish I
did it more.